Tareq and Michaele Salahi: Sari Behavior
26. Nov, 2009 
35 Comments
White House intruder, Michaele Salahi posing with men who have vowed to protect our country.
If you haven’t seen the news in the past 24 hours, take a look at an excellent piece by The Washington Post’s Reliable Source. Since bloggers who don’t even know the couple are writing about Michaele and Tareq Salahi crashing Tuesday night’s State Dinner at the White House, I felt I should write. Polite Society doesn’t like to air dirty laundry and bring these things to light, but Tuesday night’s stunt compelled me to write this article. My article is my theory, my inside view. It’s all “alleged” and all that other lawyer-speak, so if I accidentally forget to write “alleged” that’s what I mean:
I first met Tareq and Michaele at The Courage Cup polo match in 2005. They were allegedly involved in organizing the event with Greg Ball (now New York State Assemblyman). Soon after the event, Greg asked me and some others to take over the event planning for The Courage Cup in 2006. I was very involved in fundraising and event planning in Washington, and had a great circle of friends who did the same. While planning the 2006 event, we came to find out that allegedly bills had never been paid for the 2005 event and vendors didn’t want to work with us. Many would have thrown in the towel, but we wanted to raise money for the amazing kids of the Work to Ride program in Philadelphia that provides after school care, tutoring, and gives the at-risk inner city kids the opportunity to learn to ride horses. Some of the kids in the program have learned to play polo and are quite accomplished athletes. So we fundraised and paid off the debt left by Greg Ball and those allegedly organizing the event with him like Tareq and Michaele Salahi.
We incorporated and established a 501(c)(3) and did everything by the book. We had a very successful event in 2006, despite Tareq pulling his company’s wine sponsorship two weeks before our event, because he didn’t want to pay to play in the polo match. He wanted to play for free. The sense of entitlement Tareq and Michaele allegedly have is unbelievable, in my opinion. Greg Ball won his NY State Assembly seat that fall, and soon after threatened to sue to regain control of The Courage Cup. We didn’t want to give the 501(c)(3) back to him, as we felt he wasn’t responsible with money. I had to meet with Assemblyman Ball, Tareq and Michaele Salahi and their entire entourage at our pro bono attorney’s office at Akin Gump to try to settle the dispute. Thank goodness the charity had a pro bono attorney as the dispute cost Akin Gump roughly $50,000 in legal fees!
If this wasn’t enough, The Washington Post discovered WHY Greg Ball hadn’t allegedly paid the debts he owed the vendors. He had allegedly used that money from The Courage Cup to fund his NY State Assembly race. How this never became a big deal to New Yorker voters, I have no clue, but some are trying to get folks up there to wake up. The Washington Post article came out right before our 2007 event, and the back and forth drama with Greg Ball and Tareq Salahi scared off potential corporate sponsors and prevented The Courage Cup from being as successful in 2007 as we had been in 2006. By 2008, and without being able to take control of The Courage Cup nonprofit, Tareq and Michaele created America’s Cup of Polo. My take is that their Oasis Winery was having financial problems and they needed a way to make money for themselves. Washington is always looking for the next big thing, so corporate sponsors and attendees flocked to their event, which again hurt The Courage Cup. America’s Cup was promoted as being for charity, and people were told that the Queen of England and President Bush would be at their event, which of course didn’t happen. Tareq used photos of himself with Prince Charles to give his event legitimacy.
Speaking of taking photos with celebrities to gain legitimacy. Not only did Tareq and Michaele allegedly lie to Federal officials to gain access to the State Dinner, but they were snapping photos like a tourist at Disney World while they were there. They are smooth operators. Those photos weren’t taken just to “FaceBrag”. I would bet that they were taken with the intent to mislead the general public about the nature of their upcoming USA vs. India polo match, in the same way that photos taken with Prince Charles led the public to believe the Queen of England would attend USA vs. England. In my opinion, they want ticket purchasers to think that they are really on a mission to have a “cultural exchange” with India and that they are working closely with the Indian government. They also want the general public to assume that the people in the photos are supporting their cause, their event, and may actually show up.
To me this whole party crashing is much more than that. To me, it is a alleged felony intrusion of the White House with an alleged attempt to mislead and deceive the general public for their own personal gain. You see, they claim to hold the America’s Cup for their Journey for the Cure Foundation which chooses charity partners to benefit each year. Innocents at Risk was supposedly one of the partner charities for the 2009 America’s Cup of Polo. Since I was doing event planning and other work for Innocents at Risk, I had to “make nice” and attend the America’s Cup of Polo on behalf of Innocents at Risk. I was extremely skeptical, and warned Innocents at Risk about the Salahi’s. As far as I know, Innocents at Risk never received money from the foundation aside from Tareq and Michaele using the charity’s credit card to attend a fundraiser. As a matter of fact, Innocents at Risk was asked to pay $2500 America’s Cup to attend the event! The State of Virginia has warned the public about the Salahi’s Journey for the Cure Foundation. Allegedly, The Salahi’s were even able to dupe Loudoun County, Virginia into giving them $136,500 of hard-earned tax-payer dollars. You can check out the spin they used to convince the county. Many event vendors have not been paid including Market Salamander catering, which is owned by Sheila Johnson, Billionaire co-founder of Black Entertainment Television (BET) who has filed a lawsuit for over $300,000 in damages.
Bravo knew what they were doing when they selected Michaele Salahi for Real Housewives of DC. However, I think the best drama occurs off camera. I’m not sure if charity in other major cities is this scandalous, but I swear I could write a book. The Salahis have hurt a number of people in Virginia and D.C., and many of us are glad to see that they were finally outed for their poor behavior. I only hope that the federal authorities dig a little deeper, and see what is really going on here is much more than party crashing. In my mind, it’s likely charity fraud.
- Miss A
P.S. My update with additional details has been posted here.
Hey Andrea, I thought all this time, that they were legit. I have been around so many wannabe’s, even I was fooled.
WOW…unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. This saddens me to think that they need to screw people over to gain notoreity for themselves at the expense of the beneficiaries of the charities that most need the services the charity offers. In my mind, what they did is not only fraud…..it’s also theft. I’d love to see the pictures of Michaele in an orange prison-issue jumpsuit (I wonder if she’d bother to turn her leathered face to show her best side then), and Tareq being elected Prom Queen on the men’s side of the prison. What a bunch of entitled a**holes.
I know my readers don’t come to Askmissa.com for Washington gossip, so from now on, come what may, I will not address any of this nonsense publicly. Many in our community are facing lay off’s, home foreclosures and other serious issues. Tonight I am attending a fundraiser to help a precious little girl who has fought cancer most of her life. I think that puts this ridiculous drama into perspective. I don’t need to bring any additional negativity into the lives of my readers.
- Miss A
I did write that about the Blonde Charity Mafia drama. I feel obligated to share my take on the Salahi’s.
Wow, Andrea. Very interesting. I will never support America’s Cup of Polo after reading this. Their actions at the White House are so distasteful And,now Larry King is giving them a forum on Monday night. I hope the producers at Larry King Live read your blog.
i have now read about 5 articles on this… i cannot believe how much attention this whole thing is getting. but, kudos to you for speaking your mind.
She’s the Queen of the United Kingdom/Great Britain, not just England. England is just one part of the UK. The Scotts, Welsh, and Northern Irelanders don’t take kindly to being ignored, nor being lumped into “England.”
Good article, thanks. Was just checking the news round up and just can’t believe the dirt I dug up on this couple with a few simple searches. These people are in deep, one news article citing 16 suits that these people have been involved in over a relatively short period of time.
I think you’ve possibly uncovered the motive for the stunt, the upcoming USA vs. India polo match.
As for Greg Ball, you have my sympathies, truly. NY politics is an ugly game.
Continued success should you stay involved with a genuine venture to help the kids.
You are a brave soul for publishing this. I’m really glad its out there. What frauds! I just knew something was wrong! And I was at the Courage Cup in 2006. You did a great job with that event, Andrea. Just too bad that the vendors didn’t get paid. I guess my donation helped fund their Aston Martin and their yacht.
This is really sad for me because I actually like the Oasis Meritage. Since I don’t support people of bad character I won’t be buying it anymore. It is nice to hear the perspective of someone who actually has had business dealings with them.
As someone who works in reality television, unfortunately if she has cameras following her now, then she has already been selected. The way it works is they film it now, go through editing and then “put it in the can” ready for air -depending on scheduling and the network, they could air it right away or wait till all of this blows over and then air it. Now if Bravo gets a lot of flack from fans of the show saying what a travesty it would be to have her on it, they could take her out and put someone else in but that will be a very expensive to do – although reality television is successful, its done very cheaply. So sorry to say but it looks like her fake fame is going to be catapulted to the next level when the show airs.
Tareq and Michaele Salahi are on their way to go camping with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. This should help inflate their notoriety at very little cost to them. Federal Bureau of Prisons camps are actually fun. Read this post by a recent former inmate at the Federal Bureau of Prisons camp at Schuylkill FCI in Minersville, Pennsylvania:
http://fprison.wordpress.com
http://fprison.wordpress.com
It’s a non-stop party on the taxpayer dollar. Tareq and Michaele Salahi and no one else will try this stunt again.
Great article! I really appreciate the information. The media has again failed to report the real story. They do need some prison time if they have been stealing money meant for charities that really function as such.
Thank you for this information. I’ve worked with the Salahis on The America’s Cup of Polo and they did not uphold any of their contractual obligations to us as a vendor and sponsor. Our business suffered greatly and we wanted to sue but were told that they were being sued by so many other people that I would be chasing bad money with good. The charity in my opinion is a fraud and I turned them in hopes of stopping it. Their actions this week don’t surprise me. They’re arrogant and possess a sense of entitlement like I’ve never seen before. Unfortunately, they probably LOVE this publicity. They do wrong all the time and get away with it. Hopefully this time it’s caught up with them.
The last sentence of your article reflects my opinion exactly. As a lifelong DC resident, I’ve heard many stories about the Salahi’s and their deceptive tendencies. Their behavior is not only vile and disrespectful, but downright criminal. Hopefully this last stunt was the final straw. They deserve nothing less than to rot in prison. The fact that they crashed a State Dinner is absolutely repulsive, but their previous actions in cheating people and charities out of thousands and thousands of dollars is an outrage.
Ugh. I knew her when she worked at the Tyson’s Nordstrom, selling makeup. Sad how people become so desperate for fame, status, and money that they resort to this sort of shameful scam. And the media encourages them by giving them the fame they seek, in spite of the crime they apparently committed.
Wow, I thought it like England where a person got into the Queens mansion…Nothing came of it and most laughed how lax the security is. We had hoped the Queen would learn from it…I’m not sure if it did.
Wow!! Only in America, that you can break the law, be deceitful and gain fame and fortune for it. Examples, Balloon boy, Sarah Palin’s ex son-in-law Levi Johnston and now the Salahi’s. Go figure.
“‘I was honored to be invited to attend the First State Dinner hosted by President Obama & the First Lady to honor India,’ Michaele Salahi wrote on her Facebook page.”
Was she truly honored to be at the dinner, or honored to be bragging on Facebook? How low can you go!
Complete idiots! They are the new middle-aged, overweight Heidi & Spencer
I hope they get locked up for life because of what they did!
I am utterly shocked and disgusted at her abuse and insult to the USMC, and to all who wear, and have worn the Uniform of Our Country. Especially, after she so proudly spoke on her FB page about the photo of her own Father and his own honored Military Service. All 3 U.S. Marines should sue her for that photo. To purposefully mug for the camera, deceiptfully, alongside Marines sworn to defend their Country.
Shameful, is not the word I have for her. I do not care to print such a vulgar obsenity – online. But, I guess she has no problem with so blatantly insulting the USMC – online. And thoroughly insulting the brave men and women of the Secret Service of the U.S. – I hope they both make prison their new home, and post some photos from there. Those! I would enjoy seeing. Go NAVY!
The stuff with the charities, if true, sounds fraudulent. But I don’t see what they did wrong in being photographed with the Marines at the White House. Lighten up. No one was harmed, and actually they have helped protect the pres. by exposing flaws.
I’m not surprised! I had a brief encounter with Tareq and Michaele a few years ago during the planning of the 1st annual America’s Cup of Polo, which was not a success. Myself and a coworker drove out to their run-down winery in VA to meet with them. I was not impressed as the winery was a dump and the wine was awful. When Michaele and Tareq came out we shook hands and Tareq left the room. Michaele sat down with us and I presented my company and our services. Michaele left in the middle of the meeting and never came back. As my co-worker and I sat there for about 20 minutes in total disrespect, we left. After communication with Tareq and per his request, I worked hard to put together a proposal, then they wanted to know if we could do the service “pro-bono” since it was for such a wonderful charity (that isn’t even on the records with the state) I said no, and refused to work these sketchy people. I was lucky I went with my gut and my company wasn’t fooled like so many. I hope they get what they deserve!
The Salahis want $500k from the media for an interview. But more interesting than interviewing the perps (who would keep on prevaricating anyway) would be to interview the many victims of the perps.
Not the first time the Obama White House has had gatecrashers.
See:
http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2009/02/05/masked-raiders-infiltrate-white-house/
They lied on Matt Lauer, and Matt Lauer lied to America…. They did get paid by Bravo (NBC owns Bravo Network) to do this interview, and Matt Lauer knew about it…. and Bravo is offering them a book deal. This is everything that they want. Is karma not real!?!?
This whole country is screwed up. The rich and famous get away with everything, and the honest poor man has to pay, and I might say, “through his nose.” What happened to the United States Constitution?? Doesn’t anyone follow it anymore? Don’t us “poor beggars” deserve to be heard?? If you have lots of money, you can get away with anything in this country; i.e., the Salahis; Health Care Reform; Nancy Pelosi; Harry Reid. We’re the ones who suffer.
She also says on her facebook that she was a former Miss Pennsylvania and goes as far as to claim she was a former Miss USA. WRONG!
I am a former state pageant winner/Mrs. America contestant and no one in the Pennsylvannia Pageant industry has ever heard of her, and she was NEVER a Miss USA. Doesn’t she know how easy it is to look these things up?
“Sari Behavior” – Love, love, LOVE that headline. So hilarious and so perfect. First time I have been to your site and I think it is the best combination of fun, funny, and actual news.
Significant concern has arisen in regard to Tareq Salahi’s breach of White House security given his ties, and recent contributions, to radical Muslim Imams in the Maryland/Virginia area. A Pakistani national, Salahi has longstanding ties to U.S. and Asian-based entities suspected of radicalizing U.S. citizens sympathetic to the effects of U.S. incursions into Iraq and Afghanistan on nativist Muslims. Sources cite significant channeling of funds from Salahi’s non-profit organizations (currently under investigation by the State of Virginia and the U.S. Department of Justice) to Pakistani and Iranian bank accounts suspected of funding supply activities of Al Quaeda and Talibani operations.
Wow, Andrea, thanks for the post. I can’t believe they stoop so low, using poor dying children as proxy for charity, to lavish their own lifestyle. The Salahis should be jailed for life!! I hope you can provide all this information to those who can make a different up there in capital hill.
The “America’s Polo Cup” web site (see below) has a message from the “Polo and Sports Commisioner”, Roger Stern in which he solicits sponsors for the event. There’s only one problem: “Roger Stern” apparently does not exist! Isn’t this fraud?
http://www.americaspolocup.com/about.cfm